Take Off Against the Direction of the Wind!
is the twentieth episode of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. It features the debut of Snipe Simulation Gamer Level 50. Synopsis Taiga and Nico meet a high school student named Daisuke who is infected with the Bugster Virus and calls both Emu and Hiiro for their help. Parado suddenly appears and Hiiro faces him in his new form while Emu is hesitant on joining the fight. Plot Nico has tricked Taiga to an amusement park claiming a Bugster patient, and discovered in a haunted house that he's afraid of ghosts; however, they find a student showing game illness symptoms. On the Seito University Hospital roof, Hiiro triggers the Taddle Quest Gashat, but the threat doesn't make the Bugster inside Emu surface; Hiiro insists he's only helping to preserve his perfect record. Emu begins to fear himself as they get Taiga's call. Parado has returned to Kuroto's hideout; he's intrigued by Brave's Level 50 form and wants to fight it. As they arrive, Taiga tells Hiiro and Emu that the infection is from Jet Combat, but Nico mocks Daisuke's timidity, spurring his infection to flare and the Vernier Bugster to overtake his body. Over Taiga's warning, Hiiro transforms into Brave Fantasy Gamer Level 50; he summons a group of Bugster Virus monks and attacks Vernier, but Emu is too fearful of his Bugster side taking over again to transform. Brave beats the Bugster into submission, Vernier pulling back inside the patient, before turning to challenge the watching Parado. Parado transforms into Para-DX Puzzle Gamer Level 50, using Perfect Puzzle's power to make Brave's Virus monks simply vanish before backing into a Stretch Energy Item, deforming to avoid slices from the Gashacon Sword; Brave uses Taddle Fantasy's Demon Lord's power to neutralize this ability and keeps attacking. Para-DX uses a pair of Recover Energy Items to replenish his energy, switching to Para-DX Fighter Gamer Level 50, but Brave suddenly freezes up and goes weak, Para-DX stopping his attack as he sees Brave hasn't mastered the Level 50 Gashat Gear Dual β, turning and leaving. Hiiro's transformation undoes itself and he collapses, Taiga grabbing the Gashat Gear Dual β. At CR, Emu relays his fear of losing control to Asuna. Meeting with the patient, Daisuke Egami, they learn that a girl in his class set up a date for them at an amusement park, but he was ashamed at unsuccessfully trying to overcome his fear of the thrill rides ahead of time so as to not disappoint her. Asuna's response is to drag him to the amusement park again and put him through the wringer of rides; the experience drains both Daisuke and Emu. Hiiro awakens in Taiga's clinic. Poppy and Emu discover that even the Ferris Wheel is too much for Daisuke; overhearing some passing women mocking him on this, his infection flares again, Vernier taking over and choosing his target as the girl Daisuke has the date with. Getting the call, Hiiro tries to respond but can't stand up, Taiga saying he'll deal with the Bugster using the Gashat Gear Dual β's other game, Bang Bang Simulations; Hiiro refuses, still blaming Taiga for letting Saki die on Zero Day. Vernier's form emerges again, targeting Emu and Poppy with a barrage of missiles, but Emu is still too afraid to use Mighty Brothers XX. However, Kuroto Stage Selects them to an empty quarry, saying that Emu's fear has made him no longer a threat; he transforms into Genm Zombie Gamer Level X to retrieve Emu's Gashats, but Taiga arrives and draws Genm's attention. Hiiro had let him leave; he believes that a single mistake can end a doctor's career, and Taiga pointed out that Hiiro could easily make such a mistake in his condition, but Taiga himself has nothing more to lose, and as "the only Kamen Rider needed" could bear all of the responsibility the others can't risk. Genm reminds him of the side effects of his prior usage of the Proto Gashats, but Taiga says he can handle this and transforms into Snipe Simulation Gamer Level 50, fighting through the initial power surge. Vernier summons a swarm of small gray Combat Gamers to attack Emu and Poppy, but Snipe shoots them down with the cannons on his armor. Emu reaches for his dropped Mighty Brothers XX Gashat, but hesitates again; Snipe tells him to leave if he won't fight, but Emu remembers Hiiro's first attempt to snap him out of his Bugster attitude and realizes why he'll stay and fight despite the risk: he's a doctor. Emu transforms into Ex-Aid Double Action Gamer Level XX and his two halves attack Genm. Snipe intercepts Vernier, shooting and destroying him with the Bang Bang Critical Fire, curing and freeing Daisuke. Ex-Aid Level XX Orange, meanwhile, uses the Gashacon Key Slasher and activates the Mighty Brothers Critical Finish for the two of them, hitting Genm with a double energy slash, but Genm only uses this as cover to collect Vernier's debris with the Gashacon Bugvisor before disappearing. Daisuke vows to overcome his fears in time for the date, prompting Poppy to drag him off to "help" again; Emu repeats his motivations to Taiga before getting dragged off by Poppy as well. Kuroto stumbles back to his hideout to find Parado telling him to get back to working on Kamen Rider Chronicle; Kuroto instead reveals that Dangerous Zombie's Level X (Level 10) power doubles as "X" representing the unknown variable. Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : Guest Cast * : * : *High School Student: , Suit Actors *Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Level X: *Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Level XX R: *Kamen Rider Brave Level 50, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Level XX L: *Kamen Rider Snipe Level 50: *Kamen Rider Genm Level X: *Kamen Rider Para-DX: *Vernier Bugster: Rider Gashat *'Gashat Used:' **Ex-Aid ***Mighty Brothers XX **Brave ***Taddle Quest, Gashat Gear Dual β (Taddle Fantasy) **Snipe ***Gashat Gear Dual β (Bang Bang Simulations) **Genm ***Buggle Driver ****Dangerous Zombie **Para-DX ***Gashat Gear Dual ****Perfect Puzzle, Knockout Fighter *'Level Used:' **Ex-Aid ***Double Action Gamer Level X, Double Action Gamer Level XX **Brave ***Fantasy Gamer Level 50 **Snipe ***Simulation Gamer Level 50 **Genm ***Zombie Gamer Level X **Para-DX ***Puzzle Gamer Level 50, Fighter Gamer Level 50 Energy Items *'Energy Items Used:' **Para-DX ***Stretch, Recover (2x) **Unused ***Speeding-Up, Iron-Body, Instigate, High-Jump, Muscular, Shrink, Invisible, Confusion, Giant, Emission, Liquefaction, Separation, Dark Errors *For Hiiro's fight as Fantasy Gamer Level 50, several CGI Energy Items are already floating around before the Game Area has had a chance to generate. *When both Hiiro and Taiga transformed with the Gashat Gear Dual β, Double Action Gamer Level X's profile didn't appear as a selectable character. *After Snipe defeats the Vernier Bugster, the Game Clear text doesn't show up onscreen, though the announcement is still played. *As Ex-Aid Level XX R (orange) is preparing for the Mighty Brothers Critical Finish, Level XX L (blue) in one shot still has his Mighty Brothers XX Gashat in his Gamer Driver, but in the next shot as he gets his copy of the Gashacon Key Slasher, the Gashat is gone despite him not removing it himself; of course, it may have disappeared on its own in the process of how the finisher activates between the two Riders, but this is unconfirmed. Notes *As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside episode 3, . *'Viewership': 4.8% *'Closing Screen': **Text Color: Pink *'Count at episode end' **'Gashats in Ex-Aid's possession': Mighty Action X, Gekitotsu Robots, Shakariki Sports, Bakusou Bike, Mighty Brothers XX **'Gashats in Brave's possession': Taddle Quest, Drago Knight Hunter Z **'Gashats in Snipe's possession': Gashat Gear Dual β **'Gashats in Genm's possession': Proto Mighty Action X, Proto Taddle Quest, Proto Bang Bang Shooting, Proto Bakusou Bike, Proto Gekitotsu Robots, Proto DoReMiFa Beat, Proto Giri Giri Chambara, Proto Jet Combat, Proto Shakariki Sports, Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z, Dangerous Zombie, Giri Giri Chambara, DoReMiFa Beat, Ju Ju Burger, Bang Bang Shooting, Jet Combat **'Gashats in Para-DX's possession': Gashat Gear Dual *'Video Game References in this episode:' **During the first battle, Brave attacks the Vernier Bugster with a barrage of swords that rain down on him. This is a game trope referred to by gamers by the umbrella term "The Storm of Blades", a popular magic attack technique in games such as the Castlevania series, where it is called the Thousand Blades Spell. **Para-DX's use of Recover Energy Items mid-battle represent a player (or an enemy) utilizing a heal ability to gain an edge on their weakening opponent. **Emu is wearing a magenta shirt under his coat that has on the front of it. Breakout was an Atari game programmed by future Apple founders Steve Wozinak and Steve Jobs and released in 1976 in arcades and for the Atari 2600. **Bang Bang Simulations is described as a naval warfare game where the player controls a battleship to seek out targets and try to destroy them. This description sounds like the board game Battleship which was ported to several game consoles including the NES or the MMO PC game World of Warships. *This is the first time the Gashacon Key Slashers performed a Finisher. *This is the first time 2 Gashacon Key Slashers are used. *This is the first time Para-DX uses only one Energy Item (Stretch), having always previously used either two or three at once. *This is the first time any Rider has used a Recover Energy Item, despite its apparent usefulness to heal during a battle. *This is the first time the term "Level X'''" is said by a character (Kuroto Dan), as it is usually pronounced as "Level '''Ten". **"X'" can represent the Roman numeral for "'10", or the algebraic use of using letters to represent numbers that are "unknown". *All current Gamer Driver users have now transformed using a double-thick Gashat: **Emu Hojo - Mighty Brothers XX **Hiiro Kagami - Gashat Gear Dual β: Taddle Fantasy side **Taiga Hanaya - Gashat Gear Dual β: Bang Bang Simulations side **Although Parado had used the thick Gashat Gear Dual, he did not utilize it with a Gamer Driver, though he is reported to come into possession of one later on and use it in there. **Though no longer using a Gamer Driver, and not using a thick Gashat specifically for transformations, Kuroto Dan has activated the Gashat Gear Dual β to summon the Fantasy Gamer. DVD/Blu-ray releases *Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Volume 5 features episodes 17-20: A Nonstandard BURGSTER?, The Truth Exposed, A Sudden Fantasy!? and Take Off Against the Direction of the Wind!. *Blu-ray Collection 2 comes with 12 episodes. Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Vol 5.jpg|''Kamen Rider Ex-Aid'' Volume 5, DVD 918QGbPrsUL. SL1476 .jpg|''Kamen Rider Ex-Aid'' Collection 2, Blu-ray External links *TV Asahi's official episode guide for 逆風からのtake off！ *Toei TV's official episode guide for 逆風からのtake off！ References Category:New Form Episode